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Editorial
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Hiking Old Rag
The proposal of the Shenandoah National Park to limit hikers on Old Rag during October weekends to the number who can park their cars in the parking lots provided is eminently sensible.
For too long residents of Madison County who live along Route 600 have had to put up with cars parked illegally along their road even blocking their driveways and rudeness from hikers when they ask them to move their cars.
Tenth District Rep. Frank Wolfs reaction was predictable. He opposes any effort to limit public access to the trail, but it is mostly tiis constituents from Northern Virginia who are the cause of the problem, and of course his district does not include our neighbors in Madison County who are the victims of their behavior.
There is only a very small parking lot holding 12 to 15 cars at the head of the Old Rag Trail. This parking lot fills early in the morning on popular hiking weekends, and the topography makes expanding this lot nearly impossible. For several years the park service has leased land about .8 mile away for overflow parking that can hold about 200 cars. Too often this parking lot fills also. Even when it does not, visitors may drive right by it trying to park along the road closer to the trail.
Rep. Wolf suggests Shenandoah National Park Superintendent William Wade hold public hearings to get suggestions from the public. Apparently he is unaware that the suggestion to limit the number of hikers came from precisely such a public hearing.
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